Ketamine Eyed as a Potential Treatment for Tough Depression

NPR: Scientists with the National Institute of Mental Health and Harvard may have succeeded in unlocking the mechanisms that allow some people to feel near-immediate relief from depression after taking popular club drug, ketamine. Animal studies seem to indicates that the drug encourages new synaptic growth between neurons, and the same thing may be occurring in depressed humans who take the drug.

Researchers are ecstatic – as are the big drug companies. One company, Naurex, is already testing a drug that works like ketamine, only without the hallucinations.

Ketamine isn’t the only “party drug” that has been cited as a possible depression cure. Just weeks ago an article in the Guardian reported similar research regarding MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, and psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

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Ketamine and other NMDA agonists have amazing potential for treating depression. MXE(methoxetamine) lifted me out of a 6 year depression with just a few doses. Phenomenal compounds.

Why you need this?

Ketamine and other NMDA agonists have amazing potential for treating depression. MXE(methoxetamine) lifted me out of a 6 year depression with just a few doses. Phenomenal compounds.

Irving Greenfield

How long do you have to take it before weaning yourself off? Or do you have to take it for the rest of your life?

Why you need this?

No need to ween at all, the drug lifted me out of the depression permanently after 3-4 single doses(I took 30mg sublingually all the times I took it) . What it did for me was change my thought process long term while also providing a mood boost for a week or two after the drug had worn off. This was a long enough period of clear thinking that provided me with the tools to look at life through a different lens. I’m not quite sure if the bleakness will come back, there have been periods where I saw myself slipping into that mindset but now had the awareness to stop it. If it does come back, I am now confident that I have a treatment that works for me. If you decide to go this route, be sure to have someone sober that you trust there with you. These are some powerful drugs.

Why you need this?

No need to ween at all, the drug lifted me out of the depression permanently after 3-4 single doses(I took 30mg sublingually all the times I took it) . What it did for me was change my thought process long term while also providing a mood boost for a week or two after the drug had worn off. This was a long enough period of clear thinking that provided me with the tools to look at life through a different lens. I’m not quite sure if the bleakness will come back, there have been periods where I saw myself slipping into that mindset but now had the awareness to stop it. If it does come back, I am now confident that I have a treatment that works for me. If you decide to go this route, be sure to have someone sober that you trust there with you. These are some powerful drugs.

John Krajeski

This literally gave me chills, sir. I can’t begin to describe how impeccable your story sounds compared to my personal experience with mxe.

John Krajeski

This literally gave me chills, sir. I can’t begin to describe how impeccable your story sounds compared to my personal experience with mxe.

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

depression is a symptom
Ketamine might relieve the symptom
but the cause of the symptoms cannot be alleviated by Ketamine
and I have serious reservations about a drug developed in a corporate lab
same goes for LSD and the clubdrugs

Calypso_1

How do you know that ketamine does not engage the causative factors?

Calypso_1

How do you know that ketamine does not engage the causative factors?

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

I don’t know fer sher
but after 20 years of working in the Healthcare Industry
I’ve a healthy skepticism about Big Pharma’s cures
which usually lead to a lifelong dependence on the cure
without ever impacting causative factors

Azathoth

Depression may act as a symptom, but at the same time being depressed makes you less willing and healthy to engage with the causes. I’m happy about whatever can give people a break, they really need it.

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

well, i’m juz sayin’
& people are free to whatever they want
but Big Pharma doesn’t have a good track record
with psycoactive drugs
and anytime Big Reasearch is boosting something
there’s bound to be a money motive in there
and the patient is merely a way of getting at it

David Howe

well that’s nice and generalizing and paranoid and useless. would you like a list of “big pharma” drugs that that have a good track record? do you want to know how many are cheap and work effectively in short dosages?

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

let’s try it another way
why don’t you give me a list
of safe & effective psychoactive drugs from Big Pharma
the ones with no side effects
that actually cure the disease

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

let’s try it another way
why don’t you give me a list
of safe & effective psychoactive drugs from Big Pharma
the ones with no side effects
that actually cure the disease

David Howe

hmmm….moving the goalpost….”no side effects”? there’s no such thing. a reasonable person would weight those side effects against the benefits and decide accordingly.

“cure the disease” – well, which diseases are we talking about here? there are several. You are aware that some psychiatric diseases have no cure, but can only be relieved by treating some symptoms? In any case, feel free to tell a patient with bipolar disorder to skip the meds and deal with the cause. the relief from the disorder would be much worse than a lifetime of “big Pharma” dependence and repeated hospitalizations and suicide attempts.

MoralDrift

you are a hack

Excreetor

Caca Doodoo

Excreetor

Caca Doodoo

David Howe

What are the causative factors of depression? One of them is chemical and drugs are pretty darn effective at treating those issues. Many people with serious mental illness have enjoyed a lifetime of relief from these drugs. Call it “lifelong dependence” like they’re being hooked on heroin, but that’s not what it is. And you know it. Feel free to treat your own personal illnesses with THC and vitriol. Millions can avoid a life of misery with lithium or wellbutrin. The problem with vitriol of course is that you’ll need more and more until it finally kills you.

Calypso_1

What aspect of the healthcare industry has given you your insight into pharmecodynamics and biological models of psychopathology?

EDIT PS
I’m not trying to be confrontational on this issue. I am well aware of how you position your sentiments against the system. I respect your experience but I would like a response that gives me something a little more substantive than how bad the industry/system/or big pharma is.
I do research involving activating neuro-protective transcription factors so this is a domain that I have a fairly broad perspective regarding the causative factors as they are currently known and what is being done to address them.

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

> I do research involving activating neuro-protective transcription factors

maybe you can enlighten me on this
Big Research & Big Pharma have an agenda
and its not curing patients

mental illness is BIG business in the US
far more people earn money from mental illness
than are certifiably mentally ill
no drug cures the causative factors
some alleviate symptoms but with serious side effects
Ketamine could be an exception, but I doubt it

I once read every abstract on PubMed about prostate cancer
the literature showed that
there were four major treatment modalities
each was equally effective
one of those treatments was doing NOTHING
guess which modality was used the least

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

> I do research involving activating neuro-protective transcription factors

maybe you can enlighten me on this
Big Research & Big Pharma have an agenda
and its not curing patients

mental illness is BIG business in the US
far more people earn money from mental illness
than are certifiably mentally ill
no drug cures the causative factors
some alleviate symptoms but with serious side effects
Ketamine could be an exception, but I doubt it

I once read every abstract on PubMed about prostate cancer
the literature showed that
there were four major treatment modalities
each was equally effective
one of those treatments was doing NOTHING
guess which modality was used the least

Calypso_1

How do you know that ketamine does not engage the causative factors?

http://www.facebook.com/richard.boase Richard Boase

I have to agree with this, and despite everyone sandbagging you on this issue: yes, depression is mostly a symptom of underlying and often mysterious causes.

It’s much more important to get to the heart of those problems,so it’s interesting that psychoactive trips which alter your consciousness can actually have that effect, by giving a person insight into themselves, their reality and their universe.

I find it sad that big pharma is trying to ‘take out’ the hallucinations from ketamine! I think the problem here is that Big Pharma is removing the ‘subjective experience of evolution’ bit and concentrating on the objective biological bit. Why is the establishment so scared of people having subjective spiritual experiences? One thing I noticed about psychedelic hallucinations is that they’re often incredibly profound insights into the nature of being, and I agree that Big Pharma is profit oriented. Ironically I think if the hallucinations / profound insights, remained in the experience, you’d likely get more patients realising they don’t need drugs to get away from their depression!!

Put it this way: You’re depressed, and lots of high-salaried people are happy about that. People who compete everyday for a living don’t want you to get up, stop being depressed and start competing. They don’t want their life to be any more difficult than it needs to be. They want to take advantage of their lead! They blame you for your own state, and they’re more than happy to medicate you to keep you down! Materially successful people are often cruel, stupid, and small minded.

So… what should you do if you’re depressed? Take a small dose of Ketamine, the real stuff, enjoy the trippy hallucinations, the feeling of release, the insights into the nature of being, and make APPROPRIATE changes to YOUR LIFE. There’s plenty of information out there about how to live a better, healthier happier life. Start with your diet. Eat veg for the sake of your conscience, quit smoking, take up a sport, give some money to charity, even if you can’t afford it. Forgo an hour of TV… do something POSITIVE!

*rant over*

http://www.facebook.com/richard.boase Richard Boase

I have to agree with this, and despite everyone sandbagging you on this issue: yes, depression is mostly a symptom of underlying and often mysterious causes.

It’s much more important to get to the heart of those problems,so it’s interesting that psychoactive trips which alter your consciousness can actually have that effect, by giving a person insight into themselves, their reality and their universe.

I find it sad that big pharma is trying to ‘take out’ the hallucinations from ketamine! I think the problem here is that Big Pharma is removing the ‘subjective experience of evolution’ bit and concentrating on the objective biological bit. Why is the establishment so scared of people having subjective spiritual experiences? One thing I noticed about psychedelic hallucinations is that they’re often incredibly profound insights into the nature of being, and I agree that Big Pharma is profit oriented. Ironically I think if the hallucinations / profound insights, remained in the experience, you’d likely get more patients realising they don’t need drugs to get away from their depression!!

Put it this way: You’re depressed, and lots of high-salaried people are happy about that. People who compete everyday for a living don’t want you to get up, stop being depressed and start competing. They don’t want their life to be any more difficult than it needs to be. They want to take advantage of their lead! They blame you for your own state, and they’re more than happy to medicate you to keep you down! Materially successful people are often cruel, stupid, and small minded.

So… what should you do if you’re depressed? Take a small dose of Ketamine, the real stuff, enjoy the trippy hallucinations, the feeling of release, the insights into the nature of being, and make APPROPRIATE changes to YOUR LIFE. There’s plenty of information out there about how to live a better, healthier happier life. Start with your diet. Eat veg for the sake of your conscience, quit smoking, take up a sport, give some money to charity, even if you can’t afford it. Forgo an hour of TV… do something POSITIVE!

*rant over*

http://buzzcoastin.posterous.com BuzzCoastin

Right on.
I once spent a long time being depressed,
before depression became fashionable and profitable.
Then suddenly, with some heavy motivation,
I simply changed my mind.
As time went by I learned to manage my mind,
one little bit at a time.
I even found the off switch.
I don’t know if everyone can do this,
but a very small percentage even try.
Gimme a pill and set me back on my path of destruction,
paaaaaaaaaaaaaalllleeazzzzzzze!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tibby trillz

i have been diagnosed at one point with severe depression, once with manic depression, once with adhd, this was all while i was under my mothers health insurance when i was a teen. i take no drugs. i get depressed like every other human being does but i treat the depression as a function of normal every day living and not a crutch from which i can gain sympathy from people and exploit my various “disorders”. i think doctors are extremely lax with handing out prescription medicines and from my short time (6 months) of taking zoloft, i believe most antidepressant medications are worthless. even at the time, i knew i was going to have to either find some new outlook on life or become addicted to worthless meds. you are 100 percent correct buzz, its all about money.i know people who work in pharmaceutical advertising and you wouldnt believe how much money gets pissed away on commercials with 2 idiots in a bathtub on a beach living their lives in front of a beautiful sunset. they convince everyone that there is something wrong and conveniently come up with the answer for us. i believe modern society creates the symptoms of depression for most people and i believe advertising reinforces that depression. we have lost the plot. we get zero excersize and work meaningless trivial jobs that bore us and stress us out simultaneously, we get no sleep because we have exerted no energy throughout the day and we eat terrible food that starves us of much needed nutrients. if you are looking for a way to cure depression, try working a manual labor job where you get lots of sunlight, get far away from empty materialistic pursuits, and eat food that isnt poison. the key to good mental health for 99 percent of the people on this planet is in excersize, healthy sleep, healthy eating, and a sense of accomplishment (manual labor jobs such as farming construction etc… will help you alot with those things). or take a bunch of chemicals and hope for the best.

Bender

As a chronic sufferer of depression, I tried some K2 when it was available here, and I must say that it is like weed on steroids. One hit and I felt it immediately. I felt better for a couple of days afterwards. A couple of hits is enough to experience a near psychedelic experience. K2 is nearly a blissful experience. It only makes sense that, like anything that is found to be enjoyable, it has become illegal in most states…

ThanksButNoThanks

Being stuck in a k-hole was one of the worst experiences I ever had with mind-altering substances. Never again.